Russ pedaled out of Ridgeland, Mississippi at 7:00 am under overcast skies with a pleasant temperature of 76 degrees. The air felt humid since rain fell overnight. We made several turns making our way to the east over the Ross Barnett Reservoir dam & spillway avoiding Jackson and heading south to Brandon, MS. Some of the roads had several people in a hurry on the way to work, but before long we were out of the "city". We headed south from Brandon on "Star road", it led to the town of Star. Mississippi does not believe in an abundance of signs, but we made it to our intended route. After reaching Star, we headed southeast toward Mendenhall on US49, a 4 lane highway with a nice shoulder. The down side was that it started to rain, not a hard rain, just enough to get Russ & the roads wet! The picture doesn't show it well, but it is raining here.
Today, most of the terrain was wooded like you see above, timberland or some pasture. We only saw one field with some unidentified crop that looked kind of unhealthy. I got a photo today that somewhat reflects almost every time we have passed a pasture with a herd of cattle on this trip. Cattle must be very familiar with seeing cars, but when they see a bike, they stare in shock. Horses, too! Sometimes the horses would run around, one day a horse even rolled around on the ground!
We turned south on highway13 at Mendenhall, it was still raining lightly. We stopped for a break where highway 28 crossed our path, as you can see, it was still raining!
We could see blue sky to the southeast, but dark clouds were in the north & west, it was just 77 degrees. Finally the rain stopped at 12:15 and we saw sunshine by 12:30! We had a break at Bumpers (sort of like Sonic) in Prentiss around 1:30.
We made it to Columbia, Mississippi just after 3:00 and 100 miles! It is amazing how powerful Russ' legs are! Thank you, LORD for his strength and endurance!
With a convention going on in Columbia we got the last room at the 2nd motel we stopped at, WHEW!! After a relaxing dip in the pool and hot tub, we've spent the evening relaxing.
Today we saw several crosses along the journey as well as the Ten Commandments in at least 5 yards.
Tonight we find ourselves within a day of the end of the "arms of the cross" in our trip to CROSS AMERICA. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but we're praying for a safe and smooth trip into Louisiana, our final state. Thank you again for your encouragement, messages, kind words and prayers. We have felt your prayers during this WHOLE experience. Blessings to you, until tomorrow,
Russ & Carol
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